With 4 days warning, the Morr cousins decided to get together again in Bradenton, Florida. Last year my research resulted in a birding “wish list” of Nanday Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Black Swan and White Winged Dove. Since I only got the Black Swan from that list, I decided on a different approach this year. I asked several friends of recommended places to bird. I got more suggestions than we could possibly accommodate in our planned trip of 2 days down, a day for the reunion, and 2 days back. The forecast was for rain so that also would impact my birding. The plan became focus on driving the first and last days with more leisurely travel/birding in between.
On the drive to Daytona Beach, our birding highlights were again Boat-tail Grackles and LOTS of Turkey Vultures. I’m sorry about the nasty comments I made about these birds but I was really hoping for something more exciting.
Sunday made up for it! Two friends recommended the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive just north of Orlando. The web site warns you that the speed limit is 10mph but to plan 1 to 3 hours for the 11 mile one way drive. The nice volunteer at the entrance showed me some likely places to see my target birds . She did warn me that birds move so they may not be there…duh!
She also mentioned that the rare Ash-throated Flycatcher had just been seen literally at the gate a few minutes prior. So we left our car parked at her check-point and walked back to the gate. Other birders quickly helped us see this bird and Dean captured it in pictures for my first life bird of the trip.
While there, he also started snapping pictures of American Coots and Common Gallinules. As the day progressed, there were plenty of other opportunities as we conservatively estimated 2000 Common Gallinule and 2500 American Coots. We had fun watching a couple Common Gallinule sparring amoung the lily pads.
At the “u in the road” the volunteer told us to look for the (ridgwayi) Osprey which is whiter than the usual Osprey. At the designated pull-off, a pair appeared right on schedule. One had just caught a nice fish and took it to a pole for lunch. I consider this was my second life bird of the trip although eBird doesn’t capture it as a different species.
Along the way, Dean carefully parked on the edge of the road to allow other cars to pass as I and fellow birders (many with cameras) wanted to check out the birds in the marsh on both sides of the dirt road. They helped us see the Wilson’s Snipe and Sora.
The Grey-headed Swamphen wasn’t where the volunteer told me but with the help of others, we did see 3 of these birds for my third life bird of the day. I didn’t see any Purple Gallinule. I later learned (from a different volunteer) that the Grey-headed Swamphen are invasive and destroying the habitat of the Purple Gallinule.
It was a great birding day that my driver/photographer gave me. Besides the Blue Winged Teals, Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked ducks there were probably more duck species I hope to identify using Dean’s pictures. I love Anhingas and they seemed to be every few yards. I counted 40 for the day. I reported 38 species including Kestrel, Merlin, Red-shouldered Hawk and my first Sandhill Cranes of the trip. I also reported Western Cattle Egret using their new name for this year.
A search of BirdsEye showed Magnolia Park near Lake Apopka that had the Purple Gallinule I was missing plus an Indian Peafowl. I didn’t find the Purple Gallinule but the 6 Indian Peafowl were putting on a show. We think they were used to being photographed and probably fed. It was a good stop to stretch our legs.
Monday was the day of the reunion. About a block from the restaurant, Dean slammed on the breaks and said “There’s your parakeeet!” on a wire. He made a u-turn and parked in front of a “No Parking” sign to get me the picture of the Monk Parakeet. There were 6 of them (we think nesting) in the palm tree in the entrance to an industrial park. After my failed search last year, I wasn’t even looking for them this year but with Dean’s sharp eyes, I got my fourth life bird of the trip. There were also an abundance of Boat-tailed Grackles who need some love too. While waiting for the cousins to arrive, I also got a juvenile Bald Eagle to add to my trip report.
I of course was continually looking at Birdseye to see what birds were in the area that I needed. A Common Myna had been reported in the parking lot of the “Shoppes at Park Place”. Since we were early, I had Dean stop there on the way to the reunion. No luck! That night, I went into eBird where I could see comments and I kept seeing that the bird was in the Chipotle parking lot (not Target). So Tuesday morning we went back to the Chipotle parking lot and there was another guy with binoculars and camera. Seeing me he immediately pointed to a light pole where the bird was nicely perched…..a quick find on the second attempt. My Merlin app shows their location as being India and Southeast Asia. I guess this fifth life bird for the trip got lost and developed a liking for Chipotle food. My new birding friend said he had been there for at least 2 years.
My planned stop for Tuesday morning was Celery Fields outside of Sarasota. Craig Watson had recommended it and my Chipolte friend also said I’d love it. They weren’t wrong. The Audubon volunteer nicely answered my many questions and told me where to find various birds. They have feeders which they say are likely place for the Nanday Parakeet and Painted Buntings. She wasn’t wrong! I of course wasn’t as excited about the Painted Buntings as the other visitors were but I wasn’t disappointed as the Nanday Parakeets were there in abundance. Besides multiple hanging out at the feeders, I counted over 30 on the wire between the nature center and the boardwalk. This was my sixth and final life bird for the trip.
While at Celery Fields, I again saw the Grey-headed Swamphen, numerous American Coots,, Common Gallinules and more Blue Winged Teal. I even had Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue-headed Vireo and Eastern Phoebes. Other birders were excited to see the Roseate Spoonbills. A total of 42 species for the day.
To get from Sarasota to St. Augustine, I chose the GPS route across country in hopes of seeing more birds. Unfortunately, it was raining so all I added to my trip count was Wild Turkeys. Of course, there were more Boat-tailed Grackles and Turkey Vultures.
My trip report shows 76 birds for the 4 days. I’m sure expert birders would have been able to identify more but it was a great get-away for us. We’ve agreed we hope to do it again next year and maybe I’ll finally get the White Winged Dove. I’d also like to see some of the other spots my friends recommended.
Submitted by: Judy Morr
Photos: Dean Morr